Fasting. Forgiveness. Tithing.

Hi, I'm Dr. Andrew Farley, host of the Grace Message. Got a Bible question, struggling with a personal issue, wondering about a tricky verse? At BibleQuestions.com, you'll get clear, grace-based answers in ten seconds or less. No fluff, no confusion, just practical, biblical truth. Ask anything, anytime, and experience the power of God's love. At BibleQuestions.com, that's BibleQuestions.com, your go-to for biblical clarity. Jesus plus nothing, 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-655-6755. That's toll-free at 877-655-6755. By a satellite from Texas, it's the Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello everyone, welcome to the Grace Message. I'm Andrew Farley. So glad you're joining us tonight. That number to call, 877-655-6755. We got wide open lines, plenty of room for you right now to get in with your question. Maybe you've got a question about a scripture passage, perhaps you heard something in church recently and you're not sure about it, you want to put it to the test. Well, that is exactly why we're here for you tonight. We are live across the United States and Canada on Sirius XM, all kinds of FM and AM stations. And yes, of course, we're live streaming on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X, our mobile app and our website. It doesn't matter how you're listening or watching along with us right now. You can simply call in and be a part of tonight's conversation. We'd love to have you. Again, 877-655-6755. Maybe it's a personal issue going on in your life right now, in your marriage, with your kids, in your church. Or as I said, you know, perhaps there's something you heard in church or reading through a scripture passage, something came up.

Or maybe you were scrolling through social media and you're just not sure about something in the scroll. Or perhaps you're really just asking questions about your own relationship with God. You need some assurance there. Well, whatever it is, we want to take your call right now and help however we can. We got three open lines at this moment. So maybe it's something that you're celebrating, even something you've been learning lately about God's grace. Well, that's awesome too. We want to celebrate with you. So whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, let's make it a conversation together right now on the Grace Message. Three open lines, room for you right now. Again, 877-655-6755. All right, we're going to start out tonight. While we're waiting for other calls to trickle in, and you can go for that at any time, we're going to go to California first, and we'll talk with Michael. Hey, Michael, what you got for us tonight? Hello, Andrew, thank you for taking my call. I've had a pastor come in and lecture us about a great number of Old Testament ideas, you know, the importance of keeping the Ten Commandments, which is pretty much impossible. And a number of other things, tithing and so on, that kind of debunked over the years. But he was very emphatic on fasting, and I just wondered where you were in terms of fasting. How essential do you believe that is for the believer? Okay, yeah, let's talk about that. Well, there's lots of fasting going on in the Old Testament. There's a little bit of fasting going on in the four Gospels. The book of Acts mentions it, but what happens when you get into these New Testament letters? Well, you're hard-pressed. You're hard-pressed to find much about fasting.

And so, as far as fasting, in the New Testament epistles, you got 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Well, that's really not about food. That's about abstaining, couples abstaining from intercourse together in order to devote themselves to prayer. And then, as far as any other passage, well, we could look at 2 Corinthians chapter 6 for a moment, but here's my point. Before we get into 2 Corinthians 6, the biggest use of the word fast in the New Testament Testament is to hold fast. And that, of course, refers to Jesus. Hold fast to the Word, hold fast to the truth. That's what matters most, is holding fast to the truth. And so, as far as, you know, this word fast in New Testament letters as some sort of mandate, well, you're not going to find that. Even in 2 Corinthians 6, which we're going to look at here in a second, oh my goodness, I mean, it's not really about some choice of fasting. It says, in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labor, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge. So as far as, you know, him talking about fasting here, that's not really what's happening. He's talking much more about hunger, which seems to be involuntary. He went through hardship, including hunger. So what I'm trying to tell you is, there is no mandate for Christians to abstain from food in any New Testament letter. Now, when you go back to the book of Acts, of course, you see believers are worshiping and serving the Lord, and some of them are fasting. You see in Acts 14, 13 and 14, you see, for example, Paul and Barnabas are appointing elders in the churches, and it says they prayed with fasting. So obviously, we don't want to rule it out as a way of focus. I mean, that's really what it was, and what it is today. It is deciding, okay, I want to voluntarily, from the heart, devote myself to prayer about

an issue, and I don't want to be distracted. So this has become a distraction for me, so I'm going to step away. And you know, food, I mean, what kind of entertainment did they have? They didn't have the local movie theater like we do. They didn't have TV at home. I mean, food was everything. Food was their entertainment, gathering together for feasts and festivals and meals together, breaking bread together. I mean, that was entertaining. That was everything. So for them to say, hey, I want to get away for a little bit, get some peace of mind, some clarity of mind, and focus on praying about something, great. I mean, can we do that today? Yes, we can. Do we have to? No, we don't have to. We're not under some sort of obligation. So you know, I think that's the bottom line here. We can find fasting mentioned a few times in the Book of Acts. We can find it, you know, in the Gospels as well. But as far as it being some sort of formula, for example, as some people are kind of insinuating, if you fast, if you abstain from food, you're going to get your prayers answered, no, we don't earn prayer requests through abstaining from food. And so it's really just an attention or focus thing. And we can make that choice any time we feel like there's an obstacle in our way distracting us. But it is certainly not some sort of formula where we earn points with God or get more prayers answered. So I hope that helps some, my friend. Let's put it this way.

Paul, Peter, James, and John, and the Book of Hebrews, well, they are responsible for all those letters in the New Testament. And not one time do we find any instruction for the New Testament church to abstain from food. So I hope that helps, Michael. Great question. And you know, you're also, you're right in discerning about the law. You mentioned the Ten Commandments. Well, it's not just the Ten Commandments. Anybody advocating that we're under the Ten, they're not allowed to do that. The law is all or nothing. James says you keep the whole law, you stumble in one point, you're guilty of all of it. So you're not allowed to pick and choose your favorite parts of the law. Nobody said we could stop at Ten. God certainly didn't let Israel stop at Ten. Why do we think we can stop at Ten? Jesus fulfilled the whole law because we were under the condemnation of the whole law. Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, you were under your conscience, which was killing you because your conscience was showing you that you fall short of the glory of God. And so Jesus had to liberate us from the entirety of the law. So I love that you brought that up as well. It sounds like some of the teaching you're getting there is not quite on base, to say the least. least, it's pretty off-base when it comes to advocating or pushing for tithing as well. That is another issue you brought up. We're not under the tithe. We're not under a required 10%. In fact, people who are teaching tithing are teaching the wrong percentage, because in the Old Testament it was about 22-23% over, you know, per year, over a span of three years. About 22 or 23%, not 10%.

So people who are teaching tithing today, they're teaching the wrong percentage, and they're teaching the wrong covenant, and they're teaching the wrong motivation. We really need to be giving freely from the heart, not under any pressure, because God loves a cheerful giver. So it is not about reaching a quota or a number. So thanks again, Michael. Call us back anytime. All right, let's go to Oklahoma next. We'll talk with Mrs. White. Some follow-up from a previous question, right? Yes, and that's a wonderful segue into cheerful giving, and that's how I'm praying, is that person in the body who owed me a considerable amount of money, but I didn't take her to court, because that says that's wrong in Scripture. But I know we're not under the law, because it's all or nothing, but even in the law, after seven years, you have to forgive a debt. So I figured that was my baseline, and so I knew I had to forgive her, and so I prayed, and I prayed that she would be so blessed that she would remember what she owed me and remember, and then pay it back with interest. But whether she does or not, I forgive her. Is that okay? Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great attitude. We can talk about two things that you shared. First of all, your attitude is wonderful. I love it. You're praying, you're being honest with God. God, you know, to receive this money back would be wonderful. It would be amazing, Lord. It would mean a lot to me. I don't want to ignore that. I don't want to shove that under the carpet and act like it doesn't matter.

It does matter, because a lot was taken from me, and it hurt me deeply, and it hurt me financially. So recognizing that, and then also saying, you know what? If she doesn't pay me back, I'm not going to allow bitterness and resentment to creep in and be a part of my life, a controller of my life. I'm not going to let that happen. So I forgive her, and I release her, and there you have it. So I think that's a beautiful attitude. The only thing I would say is watch out for the law being your baseline, all right? Because that sounds really good on this issue, but you already have the New Testament motivation. You talked about lawsuits, you know, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. It talks about, does any one of you have a case against his neighbor, and you go to the courts, and you don't talk about it among believers? Do you not know the saints will judge the world, and if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that you'll judge angels? And so, you know, whether it's that passage about how we have the discernment and the God-given judgment through the Holy Spirit to make some judgment calls here on planet Earth without using the court system, whether it's that passage or any passage on forgiveness, you know, how about Colossians 3.13 or Ephesians 4.32, which both say, forgive as the Lord forgave you. What I'm saying is, boy, we have so much New Testament motivation for your choice. You've already made the right choice. You already have a great attitude. What I'm saying is, the New Testament can lead us there, all of us. We can all get to the place you've gotten without using the law as a baseline. So why am I careful about that? Well, let's imagine we started using the law as a baseline, okay? The law requires 23% of your income annually on average, all right? Let's use that as a baseline, a minimum, and then we'll build on that.

Everybody needs to give 23% or more, you know? Well, the law requires, let's honor the Sabbath day. one day out of seven. So no working on Friday night to Saturday. Well let's use that as a baseline and then let's increase it. How about everybody take off at least one day a week and now maybe two or three or four days would be even better to honor God more fully because the law is a baseline. And on and on it goes. You see how we could play this game with 613 laws. We could have 613 baselines. And then the logic is something like well grace has got to be greater than the law. Grace is stricter than the law. Grace is higher than the law. So the law is our baseline. No, no, no, no. Whoever's teaching you the law is our baseline. Be careful. Run for the hills from that because it will ultimately lead to bondage. The law is not our baseline. We died to the law. We're not under the law. Christ is the end of the law for all of us who believe. And now we have a new source. We have Christ living in us and we have his grace and that's the motivator. So you've got the right result. You got the right product and that is you have forgiven and released that person. You've been honest with God in prayer about it. I love everything you're saying about your choice and your attitude and your perspective. I would only caution you don't buy the lie that the law is our baseline. The truth is we're under a new covenant and Hebrews chapter 8 says it will not be like the old covenant. It will be different. Why? Because God puts his desires in our hearts and our minds and he forgives our sins. He remembers them no more. He releases us from debt. He cancels our debt. He forgives us completely. And then he says, forgive others as I forgave you. And that's your motivation. You don't need Moses as a baseline when you've got Jesus and his new covenant. So thanks for your call tonight, Mrs. White. Great question. Love the perspective. Call us back any time. All right, well, let's go to Buffalo, New York next, and we'll talk with Clarence. Hi, Clarence. What you got for us tonight? How we doing, sir? I just wanted to know, because they talked about the law and being under grace. And so a lot of times I'll hear, and I guess it's with the tithing and the offerings that, you know, they use the verse from Malachi to justify giving tithe. But at the same time, they say we're under grace, but they're doing this other thing that's still, which was under the law. And it just reminded me how when the Gentiles were saved, they told the Gentiles they had to be circumcised like the Jews and the Jews had nothing to do with it. Right, right. You know, so just floating that out there. Well, you're not just floating it out there, you're talking very clearly and speaking wisdom. What you're talking about is, hey, let's

be consistent. Let's be consistent with the Gospel. And so, yeah, the people who are using Malachi 3 to justify tithing, saying that you're robbing God and all of that, well, do we not remember what's also happening in Malachi? I mean, thousands of animals are being slaughtered for the forgiveness of sins. We don't slaughter animals today, do we, for the forgiveness of sins. We have Jesus. And so for anybody fishing through Malachi to motivate their church giving, it just shows they really are clueless about being under a new covenant. Has anyone noticed? I mean, hello, have we not noticed that we can work our way through Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, you name it, you can name any New Testament letter and you're going to find exactly zero mandates to tithe in any New Testament letter. Do you think just Paul, Peter, James, John, that they just forgot? They forgot to tell their people about the important idea of supporting the church? Well, of course they didn't forget. It's just that the motivation is different. Give freely from the heart, not under pressure. So, you know, for somebody to fish through Malachi and use that passage, first of all, it's talking about grain. You know, bring your grain into the storehouse. That's really what's going on there. So what are we going to do? Dump some barley and oats on the church lawn? You know, it gets ludicrous when you start looking at the context between the animals that are sacrificed for sins, which we won't don't do, and between the tithing, which was designed to support the Levitical priests. You know, they didn't have other jobs, so Israel supported them. The other 11 tribes, they would support Israel with food that was given to a storehouse. And so it's just absurd, really, that we would go through Leviticus or Malachi, for example, and use those as weapons today to motivate Christians. We're living under a new covenant that began at the cross and was first really experienced at Pentecost with the giving of the Holy Spirit. And so we're taught to not give under pressure, we're taught to not give under compulsion. We're told that, you know, at one point even, Paul is ready to collect a gift and he decides to send someone else ahead of him to collect it so that they don't feel any pressure from Paul. So Paul bent over backwards to keep things light and delicate and not communicate pressure to people. Matthew 23, 23, circle that one in your Bible, it's genius.

Matthew 23, 23 clearly shows Jesus saying that tithing is a matter of the law. And he's rebuking those who are, you know, they're obeying the easy or light matters of the law, like tithing. He says, you guys are tithing your dill and your cumin and your food and your spices, but you're neglecting the other matters, the weightier matters of the law. What does that tell you? Jesus believed that tithing is a matter of the law and that there are even more important matters of the law. So Jesus categorizes tithing as a law issue in Matthew 23, 23. Well, some great news. You're not under the law. Christ is the end of the law. You're dead to the law. So it becomes very clear once we understand what it means to be led by the Spirit. Galatians 5 says if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. And you know, he canceled our debt, Colossians 2. We don't owe God. The idea that we're robbing God, it assumes that we owe him. But you know, God is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. And that's the book of Acts saying that. Colossians 2 says he canceled our debt. So we've got some rethinking to do when basically people are teaching, you know, pour in your tithe, make sure you hit the number, make sure you hit the right percentage, pull down the handle, and then you'll be blessed. And if you don't do it, you'll be cursed. Well, all of that is law type teaching straight from Malachi. And what it ignores is a little thing known as Calvary. It ignores Jesus. It ignores the cross. It ignores the fulfillment of the law.

And you're right that Gentiles were never even invited to the law. So we got people debating the Sabbath today. We got Christians debating tithing today. We have all these law issues being debated, and 99% of the people debating them are Gentiles. We were never even invited to God's law in the Old Testament. For us, it's the new covenant or nothing at all. The new covenant is what we're invited to, and we get a new heart from which we can give freely, not under any pressure. So how about we engage in grace-giving and grace-living? For more information on the broadcast ministry of Dr. Andrew Farley, please visit andrewfarley.org. Join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the grace message with Dr. Andrew Farley. This program is sponsored by your generous financial support. Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. I hope you enjoyed today's program. And if you have more questions, whether it's about a Bible verse, a personal struggle, or anything on your heart, biblequestions.com is here for you. You'll get clear, grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No confusion, no judgment, just practical truth that meets you right where you are. Whatever's on your mind, you'll find real answers rooted in God's love. Visit biblequestions.com. That's biblequestions.com. you